Skipper Sean Welsh admits it has taken mental toughness to repeatedly recover from injury as he prepares to lead Caley Thistle into the Scottish Cup final against Celtic on Saturday.
The 33-year-old midfielder has scored goals in this season’s competition in wins against top-flight opponents Livingston and Kilmarnock.
And he can’t quite believe, as a Championship player, he’ll feature in this showpiece occasion against Ange Postecoglou’s treble-chasers.
Welsh has battled back from several injury setbacks, which he at times feared could derail his career.
This season alone, he missed 16 games as he underwent a knee op. In recent years, ankle and metatarsal injuries have sidelined the star, who is a key man in Billy Dodds’ side as they plot what would be an almighty shock at Hampden and a fourth Scottish Cup win as a club over the Hoops.
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— Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC (@ICTFC) May 30, 2023
Inverness history inspires captain
The attacking playmaker explained how challenging it has been to remain in the frontline within Scotland’s second-tier.
He said: “I’ve climbed bigger mountains because I have fought against injury all my career.
“There were times when I thought I wasn’t going to come back from certain injuries.
“I’ve had to be mentally tough and this (cup final) is perhaps a reward for all the struggles I have been through.
“I probably never thought when I came to the club that I would be playing in the Scottish Cup final, but this club has a history with this competition.
“They’ve won it in 2015 and hopefully we can do it again.
“This is a reward for the resilience I’ve shown and I’m glad I stuck it out and fought so hard.
“But as a football player, you don’t really enjoy it unless you are winning, so that’s what I am going there to try and do.”
‘We can pull off a miracle’ – Welsh
Welsh insists this game stands alone in terms of what is at stake for sixth-placed Championship finishers Inverness, who would catapult themselves into European competition should they win.
He said: “This ranks at the very top for me.
“It’s not very often you get to play on an occasion like this, especially at my age getting to the latter stages of my career. I am thoroughly looking forward to it.
“We’ve got to believe; I’ve said that to the lads all week. We’ve got to believe we can pull off a miracle.
“We don’t just want to go there for a day out and get caught up in the occasion.
“It’s a massive challenge in front of us, but we’ve got to have belief in ourselves.
“We know we have a good group, and we know we are going to be up against it during times in the game, but we’ve got to stick together and have that belief throughout.”
Writing ICT off used as ‘motivation’
Welsh, who joined ICT in 2018, knows no one gives his team a chance to cause another upset, this time against a Celtic team who will create a new world record if they clinch an eighth domestic clean sweep this weekend.
However, those opinions only further fuel the desire within the Inverness camp to prove the doubters wrong.
He said: “A lot of people have written us off already. We’ve got to use that as motivation.
“Rightly or wrongly, that’s their opinion, but we’re still a professional team and we’ve still got respect for the group we have.
“No one thinks it will be easy, but we will go there believing we can do it.
“We will try and cause a massive upset.”
Two Premiership sides beaten in cup
Welsh, who helped Partick Thistle win the First Division title a decade ago, believes knocking out Livingston 3-0 and Kilmarnock 2-1 from this season’s competition is a nod to ICT’s potential, although he acknowledges champions Celtic are a class apart.
He added: “I’ve never experienced an occasion like this.
“We’ve proved this year when we’ve been underdogs twice against Premiership opposition that we can do it.
“We were big underdogs going to Livingston the way their season was going and the way our season was going too.
“We proved a point that day we can mix it with the best. Celtic are a different kettle of fish.
“We know how difficult it’s going to be, but we relish being the underdogs. I think we play better when we’re the underdogs.”
Final was always in my mind – Welsh
Caley Thistle’s last competitive game was their 2-1 home loss to Ayr United on May 5, which denied them a promotion play-off shot.
A couple of bounce games along with several in-house training sessions have been used to keep the squad sharp.
Despite a brief break, Welsh explained that he was never fully taking it easy.
He said: “I managed to get away for a week to Cyprus with my wife, I managed to relax a bit.
“There was a gym in the hotel, so I was making sure I was ticking over each day.
“You can’t allow yourself to take your foot off the gas.
“It refreshed me mentally, but it was a weird one too because at the back of your mind is the game.”
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